


The Madhouse

by Spooky_Tortellini



Category: The Madhouse - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Murder, Blood and Violence, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Brutal Murder, Canon Gay Character, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Child Death, Child Murder, Cliffhangers, Creepypasta, Death, Everybody Dies, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fandom Allusions & Cliches & References, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Gay Male Character, Ghosts, Gun Violence, Heavy Angst, Horror, Light Angst, Major Original Character(s), Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Minor Violence, Multiple Endings, Multiple Pairings, Murder, Murderers, My First Work in This Fandom, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Original Fiction, Original Universe, Originally Posted Elsewhere, POV Original Female Character, POV Third Person, Past Character Death, Past Violence, Please Don't Kill Me, Possible Character Death, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Sad, Sad Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending, Scary, Serial Killers, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Teen Angst, Temporary Character Death, Threats of Violence, Violence, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21709633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spooky_Tortellini/pseuds/Spooky_Tortellini
Summary: Mandy was a nurse working at a hospital. The doctor went crazy and began experimenting on the patients. One day she can't take it anymore. This story contains; gay characters, death, graphic scenes, and mental health problems. Please do not read if any of these things bother you, but otherwise dive on in! Please comment and vote, I will answer any questions you have in the comments. I own all of these characters and plot.Thanks,Spooky_Tortellini
Relationships: Mandy (Nurse I)/ Cassian Amare, Nathan Arnolds/Cassian Amare
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue: The Institue

The building screamed. It screamed of danger, insanity, and terrible horrible things. The creatures watched as a hurried figure ran down the row of “cells”, but were more accurately described as cages. The Watcher noticed the scene on the cameras and went to the master. The watching one explained what he saw to the master who roared in his anger, and stomped out in search of the nurse.


	2. Chapter One: Mandy

She can’t take it anymore. Everyday seeing these poor people locked up, none of them came here like this. Crazy. But anyone who stepped in here left dead or insane. The facility here did horrible things to the “patients”. Nurse Mandy hurried along, her long brown hair swaying as she unlocked each cage. One prisoner grabbed the short sleeve of her nurse’s dress and she turned around. She recognized him as Cassian, and she felt an instant sorrow, the “Master” had cut his vocal cords so he could no longer talk. The added stitches on his mouth only served to show that he belonged at a place like this. They had become friends around three years ago when Cassian had first got there. He gripped her into a fierce hug, she returned it and said in a beautiful lilting voice,  
“ You better get out of here before they notice what I am doing and stop me.” She noticed Cassian’s worried look and then quickly thought of a job he could do to keep him from worrying, “ If you go to the second floor Z will probably be singing.” Z was their friend, she was a 16 year old with light brown hair and pale blue eyes. The Master had done something horrible to her as well. He had experimented with her brain and her emotions. Now, if she felt any emotion too strongly her brain would randomize her emotions and that’s how she would feel until she calmed down. Now that Mandy considered it, this escape could be tricky, but Mandy was determined to get these poor, abused humans out of this horrific place. Cassian snapped Mandy out of her thoughts as he gave her a hug and rested his chin on top of her head, Mandy startled and blushed, but after a second she hugged him back. They broke apart and Mandy turned to go but Cassian grabbed her arm gently and he pointed to himself,  
“I” then he put out both hands as if to stop something.  
“Wait” he held up four fingers, then pointed to Mandy,  
“For you” Mandy translated the message as “I will wait for you” she nodded and Cassian turned and ran down the stairs. Mandy took a deep breath freeing the rest of the mistreated humans. When she got to the top floor, she walked to the room at the end of the hall full of empty chambers. She turned the handle of the Watchers room. The name on the door read “DR. SCOTT HARPER” but you already knew your boss's name. You walked in expecting to find him or The Watcher, but the room was empty your eye caught on the sharp point hung in the air you were about to turn around but the needle roughly jabbed your neck, feeling the cold liquid running into your veins.  
Cassian sprinted down the stairs to the second floor, which was used for torture. All sorts of torture; solitary confinement, electro-shock, cutting our limbs, phsycological and the list goes on. But nothing compared to not seeing Mandy. Wait why was he thinking of her right now. As he raced down the traumatic Corridor he began to hear the faint sound like someone singing, he thought. His younger friend, was only like four years younger than him, but he thought of her as a little sister. Her unpredictable emotions might hinder their escape but he was too determined for Mandy's sake to get out, she would be devastated if he was recaptured, that was cute. She was worried for his well-being. Again that intrusive voice, he needed to stop thinking about her- it needed to stop thinking about the voice. Not Mandy, well I mean I need to stop thinking about her too- wait no I don't want to forget about her. Cassian brought his hand up to his forehead to remind that he was there for Z. He reached the origin of the song and open the door to the zoo reveal Z-wait Z was gone like she wasn't in the room. He looked again and there was only a speaker. No no no no no that meant that the evil doctor had Z. He spun and dashed down the hall to the stairs, he smacked straight into someone causing him to fall back down the flight of stairs. He hit a few with his head and blacked out by the time he got to the bottom.  
Mandy woke up. Her head so foggy so she didn't even open her eyes, but she heard something faint, like singing? That's odd who would be singing now? Then she recalled where she was and you began to panic. That was Z, you thought. No, Z had been caught too, no. Where was Cassian? Then you began to feel more panic as time passes, you hear the door open and a grunt followed by a loud thump as something heavy hits the floor. Please don't let that be Cassian. You slowly open your eyes and wince as the light hits them. You then noticed you were lying down, you tried to move your legs to get up but they were held tightly into place by leather cuffs.Panic and horror seized do as you tried to move your arms and found to were stuck to the operating table. You turn to look and saw Cassian unconscious on the floor. You turned to the source of the sad, soft singing. On the table next to you with Z she was crying but smiled at the same time you could tell she was scared but the experiments on her emotions left her smiling and she sobbed softly.  
“Z?” You said quietly. “Are you okay? What's wrong? “ She turned to look at you her blue eyes full of tears.   
“It's all my fault they caught you and Cassian,” She sobbed and sat up with her hands over her eyes, “and now we are all going to die and it's all my fault.”  
“No, Z it's NOT your fault the boss here is a monster it is all his fault... “ You saw she was not strapped down and an idea came into your head. “ Z right now I need you to get yourself and Cassian out.” Z’s eyes widen as she looks concerned  
“What about you? How will you get out? You'll be stuck here for them to do horrible things to you... Like they did to us. “ Her smile had fallen and her true emotions showed. You looked from her to Cassie and scars.   
“Z, you’ve got to trust me.” She came and gave you a hug. She helped Cassian up, when the lanky boy woke up. He looked at you before running and giving you a hug. He kissed you on the forehead before turning and running out with Z. You listen to their pounding footfalls as they ran out. Once they were long gone you relaxed, the warm fuzzy feeling still left in your heart from Cassian. That is when the door opened.


	3. Chapter Two: Sirens

Cassian and Z ran out. Z looked sideways and smirked at Cassian who was zoning out and blushing profusely.   
“Fantasizing about Mandy?” Z asked with a teasing tone she took a second to wiggle your eyebrows at him. Z had always liked the idea of them getting together. She had always felt like a little sister to Cassian. Z noticed that he wasn't paying attention to what she said, so she stopped turned to him and said “Cas? Are you in there?” she lightly tapped his head hoping to gain response. But Cassian and apparently did not like to be tapped. He looked at Z and lightly pushed her away “Good, you're still in there.” Cassian’s snorted as if saying “where else would I be” Z raised an eyebrow “Oh you want to go there do you?” before he can shake his head “no” she had already begun teasing him “you are all lovey-dovey fantasizing about guess who.” She waited a second for a response. She then noticed his stitches on his mouth and neck and remembered that he couldn't talk. ”You were daydreaming about Maaandyyyy~.” She exaggerated the “a” in Cassian’s name. She giggled and a blush spread across the warm brown of Cassian’s and he ruffled his already messy dark brown hair. Z giggled again as Cassian’s amber eyes glared at her. Cassian playfully pushed her and snickered. They continued to walk and Cassian and contemplated all that has transpired. They look to him and moved closer while she's still walked forward, “So... Do you like Mandy?” Cassian winced, he knew that Z would ask that question. He was hesitant to answer but he, to Z’s delight, nodded. Z squealed, but her facial expression changed angry, she sighed and mumbled something about a “mood shift” she turned to Cassian and said through gritted teeth “I may not feel it right now, but I know in my soul I am happy for you I have always loved the idea of you two being a thing.” she sighed then looked up and began counting, when that ultimately didn't work she began to sing as they walked down the stairs to the ground floor. Suddenly alarms blared and red lights flashed. Red. Flash. Siren wail. Red flash. Siren. Wail. Red flashing lights spun on the ceiling. The alarms letting the staff know of “escapees”. In the midst of the already chaotic situation some other fugitives ran toward the doors. Cassian and Z began to speed walk in the same direction. The door was busted open and arm guards rushed in. Shots were being fired at the running prisoners. Cassian and grabbed Z’s hand and sprinted to the doors three shots were fired at the pair, luckily they missed, Cassian had managed to piece together through the hurricane of information pouring in on him from all sides. They made it out of the doors. Cassian saw the forest ahead and pushed himself to run faster to the cover of the trees. They made it and slowed. Z stumbled and Cassian looked at her, she was looking down. Cassian immediately knew something was wrong. He took her face with his hand he raised her head so he could look into her eyes she was smiling but he could see in her eyes that she was super scared. But the worst part was that she was crying. Cassian examined her face and realized something was trickling out of her nose as she breathed. It was blood. Cassian frantically examined her and he noticed blood soaking through a blue shirt The light colored fabric stained red.  
As the door opened a struggle to get your arms free. The man who started all this horrific torture of innocent people stepped into the room. You glared at him and said,   
“You better let me go right now or else.” but he just laughed and replied smugly,   
“Or else what. I appear to be the one who is able to move.” He laughed menacingly as you struggled on the operating table. The door opened again and a man pushing a cart came in. You recognized the “Watcher” he was the lead guard, he was odd you never spoke to him you only learned his name on the first day you worked here... And you had not spoken to or seen him since. Yep, three years you have worked in this cursed building and you would only seen this man twice now, but you did know he'd seen you before, his whole job was to watch. When you first met him you thought it was a perfectly normal job but now, After experiencing what went on here you just thought it was creepy. He pushed the cart until it was right next to the “doctor” at this point you seriously doubted he had a medical doctorate or any sort of doctorate. If you had to bet you would say he dropped out of the first week of college and someone just gave him this job. And he did it happily. It, he was sickening. The doctor put on gloves and picked up a syringe with some sort of clear liquid in it. The monster walks up to you with a cynical smile, he held the syringe while approaching you. He swiftly lunged and grabbed your arm, you flailed desperate to escape, for a moment it looked like you were going to break free, but that hope stopped mid-flight and plummeted to the clean white tile. The doctor caught your flailing arm and stabbed it with a needle, the liquid was injected into your arm. A sensation like your arm was on fire began. And while the ”fire” ran rampant on your left arm the doctor went over to the tray and picked up a camera.  
“Almost forgot to set this little thing up.” He laughed and hit the button on the top, a little light blinked showing it was recording. “So, sorry. I forgot about this camera before, but now I have it and it's working. All I did before this started recording was injected the mutation serum into her left arm,” he moved closer. He thought that he looks like some cool camera man, but you thought he looked like a complete psycho. You spat in his face. “Oh, it looks like Subject I still has some life left in her.” He chuckled and your blood ran cold.  
“ I guess we'll have to change that.”


	4. Chapter Three: Holes

Three gaping holes in Z’s chest gushed blood as Z slowly collapsed forward. Cassian caught her and laid her down on the soft grass, Z was looking ghostly pale as she faded in and out of consciousness. She took a gurgling breath and coughed up blood. Cassian cleaned the blood from her chin gently, he wiped his hand on his old, torn shirt. She looked up at him grabbed his hand and whispered-to the best of her ability,  
“Remember, you’ll always be my big brother.” Then she seemed to recall something and added, “Take care of Mandy won’t ya’?” She let out a short laugh. The lack of oxygen in her forced her to breathe in, but the bullet holes made that impossible. So she coughed up blood on Cassian’s shirt. He was too caught up in the death of his young friend to worry about that. He hugged Z to his chest until her life faded away. When he checked her pulse to see if she was still alive, he was anguished to find that she was gone, taken. After only sixteen years of life someone had snatched all of the possibilities she had away. He picked up the young girl and carried her until he found a clearing with flowers. He picked a spot with relatively soft dirt. He set Z down and got down on his knees. He scraped at the ground not caring how much his fingers bled as he moved the dirt to make a suitable hole in the ground, Z went through way worse, he repeated to himself over and over until he was done. The sun was setting on the traumatic day as he picked Z up cleaned the blood off her face. It’s all my fault, he thought guiltily, if I would have run faster then Z wouldn’t have gotten shot. This is all my fault. He sat and sulked looking down at the face of his dead friend.  
“Oh, but it isn’t your fault.” Cassian’s head snapped up he crouched and set Z down, he saw a sharp rock nearby and picked it up. He quickly stood, he so badly wanted to call out to the voice and ask”Who’s there?” but he couldn’t. The voice only laughed getting closer. “No one is here,” Cassian felt a shiver run his spine, “It’s only YOU! “ The voice rang out loud in his skull. Cassian was apprehensive about what had just occurred he chalked it up to exhaustion and tried to forget about it. He apologized to Z for leaving her in the dirt but he needed to protect her from all of the dangerous people in the world. He carried her to her new grave and set her down the dark closed around her in a final way but a chill crept up Cassian’s arms as if her spirit was trying to get out. No, Z, he thought, it is time for you to rest. He looked down sadly as he gathered wildflowers into a bouquet and placed them on her chest to cover the ugliness that monster did to her, how dare someone hurt my little sister, he raged inside. He moved her light brown hair to frame her face. He filled in the hole with the mound of dirt. It was quite dark by now Cassian knew he should be getting to bed but he was too full of adrenaline. He thought about the voice again, it was probably just stress from the situation. Or, he thought wryly, I’m finally going crazy. He laughed at this little joke that wasn't a joke or funny, he may have laughed but it was as silent as ever. It sounded more like he was hyperventilating. He laughed beyond a reasonable amount of time. He snapped back into himself and started to grieve over his friend, it's all my fault if I would have been faster if I- “You realize it was Z’s murderer’s fault, right?” Cassian and found it so hard to disagree with the voice so instead of answering he laid on the soft grass. He tried to fall asleep but he couldn't because he felt like he had to do something for Z. He got up and found a flat rock the size of his hand. He picked it up and took another sharper rock and tried to write on it. He scratched a large “Z” onto the rock he set it down on top of the small mound of dirt covering the body of his friend. He sadly mourned for her as he tried to fall asleep that night. The stress and grief of the escape finally caught up with him. He closed his eyes and sleep took him to a place of horror.  
The camera blinked as it recorded. The doctor went up to it and held up a jar. The camera focused on the contents which turned out to be eyes. Human eyes, only two, probably from the same person. The doctor took the camera off the tripod and said in a dramatic voice,   
“So last time on ‘Subject I’ we looked at the reaction the serum has on the human body. This time however,” he turned the camera to face a woman strapped to an operating table, “we will be looking into the effect of taking Subject I’s eyes away. You know just to see what will happen.” At the sound of his voice Subject I open her eyelids, the black caverns absorbed the light that tried to bounce around. The doctor went over to her and started unlocking the straps on her. When he was done she sat up. She tried to stand but lack of using her limbs made them weak. She stumbled, which made the doctor laugh, she growled. It was an unnatural animal-like sound. She wobbled around the room, it was clear it had been a while since she walked, it also didn't help that she had no eyes anymore. She sniffed the air and listened as to use the other senses humans possessed she located the doctor and rasped.  
“Where are they? What did you do to them? How'd they get out?” the doctor-who was clueless to the question-responded,   
“We have your eyes here, silly girl.” The woman lunged. She sank her teeth into his forearm. He gasped and tried to push her forehead away to make her let go. But the combined force of her will and gravity only made the chunk of flesh come off his arm. She spat it out disgusted.   
“No, you idiot! I didn't mean my eyes! I already knew you had those! I meant my family, Z and Cassian!” The doctor looked shocked then comprehending what she had said, then he laughed. He laughed as if she had said the world's funniest joke. The laughter turned hysterical when she realized that she wasn't joking.  
“Oh, you haven't heard?” When she didn't reply he stopped laughing and just chuckled. “The little one was shot-highly doubt she'll make it out of that one alive-” He laughed and continued “And the bigger one I think he escaped into the forest.” With a shrug he added, “But that's not very important it's not like he is very smart, and he can't even tell anyone what's going on here. But,” He looked at Nurse I “You can tell people, so we are going to have to do something about that.” He looked to another man, who was standing and watching from the corner of the room, but when he looked back the subject is gone. He felt a searing pain in his back and he stumbled forward the first full view of ”the effect of the serum on the human body” her skin was a sickly gray color and her left arm was abnormally long when she lowered it your fingers-if you could even call them that-touch the floor with fingers that were sharp like knives. The procedure to remove her eyes appeared to not have gone too well because it left long, jagged cracks on her face sprouting from her empty eye sockets. She must have been in terrible pain, because she hugged her left arm to her chest, cradling it. The doctor fell forward from the force of her below, red stains were blossoming on his back but just then the man in the corner-who was simply standing there and watching-pulled out a syringe and stabbed it into the woman's neck. She desperately fought the drowsiness, but he caught her flailing right arm and slowly crouched down bringing her with him. She kept sinking until she was fully lying on the ground. Before the darkness of sleep took her she whispered,  
“I... Hate... You…” The man-who either didn't care or was expecting this response-just shrugged it off. He picked her up and set her on the operating table. He put the straps back on her. The doctor who had partially recovered at this point growled,   
“That mouth of hers is not suiting of her new appearance-” The watching one interrupted with,  
“And please don't say something along the lines of ‘we'll have to do something about that’ the readers make it bored.“  
“Readers? You don't read camera footage. Do you?”The Watcher facepalmed and just brushed it off   
”You're right that was a stupid thing to say…” The doctor-a bit weirded out just turned to the camera and smile saying,  
“Next time on ‘Subject I’ we will be looking at the impacts of smiling on the human body.” He chuckled as he set down the camera.


	5. Chapter Four: X  I

It had been several weeks since Z’s death. Cassian was far down the well called grief. He sat by the grave of his little friend every day, talking to her. But he wasn’t sitting and remembering “the good times” he was planning. Planning his and Z’s revenge. His head was full of chaos and murder. He wanted to find the person who killed her and make them pay for what they have done. They took the life of an innocent girl who was kind, creative and had so much to live for. He came up with a plan but first, he needed something to hide his identity. He slunk out of the forest, he could see the prison he was trapped in, and the road that led away. He followed the road until he found a town, the crisp autumn breeze brisk on his face. He saw a side alley, he turned into it and saw a large dumpster, in it he found a shirt and a jacket with a hood. He ripped the shirt and made it into a bandanna which he tied around his face to cover the stitches. He took the jacket and put it on over his bloody, dirt-covered shirt. He put the hood up so it shadowed his face. Now all he needed was some money, hmm, he pondered ways to obtain money fast.   
“You could always kill someone to get what you want.” The voice said amused. Cassian sighed, over the weeks he had gotten used to the voice adding random comments periodically. He still didn’t know if it was really there or if he just imagined it. He agreed with the voice but he wanted the first person he killed was Z’s killer or killers. So he decided he would just knock them unconscious. He thought for a second before grabbing the lid of a nearby trashcan and smashed it against the dumpster causing a CLANG! He then waited for some person with some sort of moral compass to show up. A very short while later a woman came rushing around the corner, she ran to the end of the alley and peered around she turned around just as Cassian struck. He lunged she tried to scream but he muffled her. The woman desperately tried to escape his grasp but the leverage he had from the surprise attack gave him the upper hand. She flailed and tried to grab his face, but she only succeeded in pulling down his bandanna to reveal his stitches. For a moment she looked sympathetic, but before he could “discuss” it with her, he took her head in between his hands and slammed that back of it into the dumpster. She slumped in a familiar soundless way. Cassian’s pupils contracted as he remembered a little girl sadly slumped on the ground bleeding from her chest. He let out a horrendous scream-if only someone could have heard it. He sat and sobbed. The voice sighed,  
“Cas, you need to pull yourself together. You can’t keep breaking down like this anytime something reminds you of… her.” Even though the words were harsh it sounded like he was trying to comfort Cassian. The voice knew better than to say her name, that would only make it worse. A presence materialized behind Cassian and he felt an odd sensation as if something not quite there had placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. He looked over and saw what appeared to be a shadow. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head and when he looked back it was gone. The feeling subsided gradually. He decided to heed the voice’s advice. Cassian picked himself off the ground. His pupils went back to their normal size. He looked at the woman lying on the ground, he picked up her purse and rifled through it, it contained a notepad and a voice recording device he assumed she was a reporter and that's why she came so soon. He found her wallet and only took twenty dollars, wouldn’t want to be rude, he reminded himself logically and he felt bad but he’d never admit that. He took the notepad and wrote,   
“Sorry I need to save my friend,” he considered it for a second then scratched out “friend” and wrote “friends”. He continued with, “Hope your head is okay.” He didn’t know why but his hand seemed to act on its own accord and he signed the note with an “x” and an “i” so it looked somewhat like this, “X I”. When he was done he folded the paper up and put it nicely into the lady’s purse.  
He left the alley and found a nearby Halloween store. He went inside and looked at the mask options, he picked out a plain white one. He liked it for the most part but the only problem was that it covered the entire face and he wanted only his eyes to be hidden. But, he reminded himself, I can change that later. He never really liked hiding his scars because they reminded him of Mandy. He sighed as he walked into the arts and crafts aisle, he picked out blue, black, and red paints. He grabbed a few brushes, the brown bristles reminding him of Mandy’s soft, beautiful brown hair… No! He berated himself, you cannot get sidetracked if you do then you will not be able to find her and avenge Z. If anyone had looked through the security cameras at that moment they would have seen a suspicious hooded man, staring into space, looking at paintbrushes. He left and went to the register and paid, the cashier lady looked at him oddly and he checked to make sure his bandanna and hood were up. They were so he looked back at her. She seemed to snap out of it and said apologetically,  
“ I’m sorry for staring I just couldn’t help but notice how cute you are. Can I get your number and maybe we could go out sometime?” She handed him a piece of paper for him to write his phone number on, he took it and wrote,  
“Sorry I am taken.” And with a nod, he left the bewildered cashier and left the store.  
The doctor flicked the camera into life. It began recording and he started with his normal intro,  
“Welcome back to ‘Subject I’ I’m your host, Dr. Scott Harper. Last time we saw the subject exhibiting some strange behaviors including talking back, biting, and scratching. So as punishment, we made her the happiest girl on Earth.” The camera panned to the subject on the table, an ocean blue doctor’s mask was on her face. The doctor went over and took it off. The camera followed him as he walked to a cart with wheels in the corner. He took a permanent marker and said, “Too much happiness can’t be good so to counteract all the smiling she’s doing,” he began to draw a frowny face on it, “we have to add a frown, oops it’s a bit off-center.” He looked at the chained down woman and chuckled. “Well, it’s not like you care anyway.” The camera zoomed in on her face. The camera struggled to focus for a few seconds, glitching. A face vaguely appeared on the screen. The doctor came over and hit the camera in an attempt to fix it, it seemed to work because it stopped flashing. It continued to record normally. “Well, that was odd…” The doctor muttered the camera pulled back up. Once it was focused on the woman's face it was clear that the woman whose face was already hideously scarred and missing eyes-had a smile but not an expression of happiness. Her cheeks and face had pieces missing and cuts making her appear to be smiling. Her empty eye sockets leaked tears as she cried from the pain of the “operation”. The result made her look like something out of a horror movie, she was terrifying. “And look what we got you!” The doctor said in an excited voice. The doctor pulled out a badge with a stitched “I” on it. He began to walk toward her but she lashed out.  
“I do not want anything from YOU!” she bucked and flailed trying to break free, her extra-long left arm wiggled to aid her escape.  
“It is regrettable that you can still talk.” The monster said. She stopped struggling when she figured out it was futile. The doctor pinned the badge to her dress, right above the pocket with a red cross. He put the deep blue mask back on her, “Good, now I don’t have to look at your ugly face anymore.” He patted her on the head like a little puppy, she growled and he flinched back. The cameraman laughed.  
“Seems like a lot of people don’t like you too much, Doctor.” The doctor sharply whipped around,  
“Oh, shut it ‘Mr. Stalker’!” He imitated the Watcher saying, “Oh I tHiNk I’m sOo sMarT and I know EVERYTHING!’ Well too bad you don’t know everything!”The Watcher recoiled back and for a second looked hurt. His face reverted to its emotionless mask.  
“I do know everything.” He glared at Nurse I. That one statement made all four people in the room shudder.


	6. Chapter Five: Glitches

The girl woke up. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it except that she woke before her alarm. She got ready for school. She was still early when she finished so she turned on her new wireless headphones and connected them to her phone. She began to play music, she noticed the songs were darker than usual they had more depressing themes. On one song, in particular, she noticed this phenomenon, she thought that maybe it was a remix. Yeah, a remix that made sense as the music cut out at random intervals and she heard someone else singing. She felt unsettled, so she opened her music app to skip the song. When she looked the phone said no songs were playing The battery on her phone began to drop rapidly it landed on “16%” and it stayed there. She began to get more scared so she tried to turn off the device, but the off button did nothing. She kept hitting it feeling panic well up inside of her. She felt pain in her chest making it hard to breathe. She tried to put the phone, but her arm felt like it was paralyzed. Her screen turned blue but a circle on the inside was red blood red. A moment passed and nothing happened, the girl just stared at her glitched out phone. She eventually relaxed as nothing else happened. She popped a piece of gum in her mouth and blew a bubble. She’d take it to the store to be fixed tomorrow. Abruptly a hand burst through the screen and grabbed the girl's shirt collar. A young woman with gray-brown hair and a dark blue shirt appeared. The center of her chest was bloodstained. When the apparition spoke the girl only heard it through her headphones as if the woman wasn’t there. A thought seized her she went to the phone app and typed her dad's number. The phone’s reply seemed to anger this ghostly figure even more,  
“Dialling Scott Harper” the ghost said,  
“Didn’t your dad teach you to not be on your phone during conversations?” The faded woman changed her grip on the bratty teenager’s shirt collar. The change caused the girl to begin to choke. Even though they were the same age the ghost floated making it appear as though she were at least a foot taller. The ghost floated closer to the ground so she could as close as possible to her victim. The brat clawed at the vice-like grip of the spirit. She would have looked normal except for she was grayish like some of her colour was darkened then drained. The woman stepped closer pushed the girl down and said,  
“Dr. hasn’t helped his patients. He wasn’t very nice, I think we should PUNISH HIM!!!”  
Cassian walked down the street passing shops as he went. He looked in the window of a coffee shop wondering if coffee would be a waste of time and money. The televisions were broadcasting the local news. One was a girl found dead in her dad’s house, the pictures were horrific and the rest of the house was trashed all of the electronic devices destroyed. The other was the woman he attacked in the alleyway, he winced. He began to quickly walk away back in the direction of the forest. The bag of art supplies bouncing against his side as he walked. He passed the alleyway that was now swarming with cops, the police tape, and cars blocking the entrance to the alley. Two of the officers were questioning the woman he pulled the bandanna up his face. He made eye contact with the woman. Her eyes widened and she pointed him out to the police. Oh son of a motherless goat. The police came swiftly walking up to him. He noted-with slight alarm-that they all carried guns. Cassian kept walking but sped up as the cops called out for him. He heard a low click, one officer called,  
“If you don’t stop I will be forced to shoot.” Cassian’s eyes widened, he thought maybe if he was fast enough they wouldn’t have had time to get here. But apparently, this shnookerdookin’ town has no OTHER crimes to deal with, lucky fish sticks. Cassian stopped dead in his tracks. “Put the bag down, and put your hands where I can see them.” Cassian slowly bent down and set the bag on the asphalt. He raised his arms over his head. “Thank you, sir. Can you now turn around slowly.” Cassian begrudgingly turned around. His gaze locked on the officer, he was a young man with blonde hair. His green gaze was very determined,  
“For a human.” What are you implying, Cassian retorted with an internal eye roll. “Well with your complete craziness and of course yours truly, you, my friend, are most certainly NOT a human.” Haha, very funny, Cassian snapped back, now shut up I’m trying to deal with this. The officer had a face that told Cassian he Smiled most of the time. He tried to imagine the young man smiling, but the face in his mind horrifically morphed, twisted, and melted into Z’s smile during her final moments. The memories flashed. He clutched his head falling forward, he would have screamed if he could. He was on the ground now clutching at his head, he desperately wanted the flashes of the institute and Z to stop. His past was too painful to go through again. He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. Someone took the hood off his head, the woman must have told them about his stitches because next they pulled the bandanna down, when Cassian didn’t resist, they took it off. The young officer gasped and stepped back. The thought of his stitched mouth brought back even more flashes. The doctor’s cruel laugh as he performed the awful procedure. The doctor was so vile and heartless that he didn’t even bother to sedate Cassian. The excruciating pain in his mouth and neck. It felt like someone was sawing through his throat and just left the knife there. Which is pretty much what the monster did. Then when he was done he sewed Cassian’s neck closed. Because of his cut vocal cords sewing Cassian’s mouth shut wasn’t exactly necessary. But he did, the monster didn’t sew his mouth all the way closed because they didn’t want his new experiment to starve. Over the next weeks Cassian found out how the system worked; meal one, then mingling in the courtyard, after that you were sent to your room before they called people one-by-one to the torture hallway where they found some new way to have fun with you. Then you probably wouldn’t want to eat, so you sat alone in your cage. During mingling time one day, Cassian saw something strange, a girl was having an animated conversation with one of the nurses assigned to watch over them. This was odd because typically the nurses were cold, professional, and distant. They were just brush off any attempt at conversation. So it was odd to see the girl talking to the young nurse. She appeared to be around Cassian's age, at this point he was 17 years old at the time of the escape he was 20. The friendly nurse had long brown hair which had reached down to her waist. Cassian amassed all the courage he could-he wasn't sure why he was so nervous all of a sudden-and he went up to them, the nurse noticed. She smiled kindly and he waved shyly. She's stuck out her hand,  
“Hi, I'm Mandy. And you are?” She noticed his stitches and gasped. “Oh, I'm so sorry-”  
“I think his name is Cassian.” The girl interjected. Mandy looked thoughtful.  
“Cassian, Cassie, Sian, Cas...Cas! I like that we're going to call you Cas now!” Mandy exclaimed. “Cas” blushed and shuffled his feet, he looked at the girl she wore the standard dress for female patients here. A light blue shirt and dark gray pants. Cassian himself wore a light gray-almost white-shirt and dark grey pants. The girl noticed his gaze and then informed him that her name was “Z with no ‘e’ just the letter Z.” He cried and hot tears spilled down his cheeks as he sobbed on the ground, he face-planted. But he didn't bother to get up he just sat on his knees with his forehead pressed into the street. He cried but it was soundless. The officer placed his hand back on his shoulder. Cassian and heard him click on his radio and call for paramedics. Cassian tried to stand but it is teary weakened state the officer held them down with just one hand. The memories were too much, so he gave up. He sat like that until the paramedics arrived, he was loaded into the truck still crying.  
You woke up to the feeling of being watched like all your movements were closely monitored. That feeling creeped you out. The door creaked slowly open. A figure you couldn't make out leaned in the doorway. It wasn't the doctor this person was taller and oozed unsettling vibes. You remembered the “watched” feeling. The Watcher, your eyes narrowed. You glared at him.  
“You know, I like you when you first got here.” He walked in, “But then the boss got interested in you and your little friends,” the last line was forced out in a hiss. “and you know I can't have that happening. So I thought I should take matters into my own hands.” He walked over and unstrap the restraints. You sat up, he took a step back to give you room to stand. You swing your legs off the table. You notice sadly that the white leggings you wore under the nurse dress wear ripped, you like them they were your favorite pair. When you were safely on your feet without the fear of suddenly tipping, The Watcher gestured to the door, “You going to take this opportunity or not? I'm giving you a free pass to get you out.” You began to run to the door when the Watcher called “Wait!” You turned and felt a sharp pain in your chest. Your eye sockets widened. Your head looked down and saw with dismay that the Watcher had plunged the knife into your chest. He took it out and up supposedly gentle manner. Then stabbed you twice more, you began to turn to get away but his knife caught the left side of your neck but it's not like you would have made it far anyway. The knife hit a major artery in your neck you slowly collapsed to the ground blood soaking your dress. You gurgle and rolled over to look at the man. “The doctor is mine!” You slowly bled to death, in pain, on the cold floor, worried about your friends in the place that tortured you and Cassian and see, your last thoughts were of your friends and flood, but not your own.


	7. Chapter Six: Just Smile

Nathan paced behind the sergeant as he tried to interrogate the suspect. The suspect squinted against the lights blaring into his eyes. Nathan couldn't figure out why he didn't answer the questions being thrown at him. The stitches in his mouth had an opening large enough for him to speak through...unless, well Nathan hadn't heard him make any noise at all, even during his unexpected breakdown. His sobs were silent as if he physically couldn't make any noise.  
“Sir, can you let me try,” the young officer cut in, “I think a change in tactics might be in order.” The sergeant remembered Nathan's background in Psychology. The older officer stepped out of the room. Nathan pulled a chair up to the table so he could sit down. The suspect looked almost helpful as if he knew Nathan had put it together. The officer reached into his coat and pulled out a notepad. He took a permanent marker and handed it to the man saying, “Hi I am officer Nathan Arnold, please never call me ‘Officer Arnold’ it's just weird.” The suspect looks to be chuckling. Nathan smiled. So I'm getting somewhere, he thought. The man shook his shackled wrists as if to say,  
“How am I supposed to grab that over there?” Nathan nodded understandingly and moved the notepad in marker closer to him. The man nodded his thanks and grabbed it writing,  
“Hi Nathan, I am Cassian. I'm very glad you figured out my situation and stopped shouting at me.” Nathan took the paper, and read the note, “Cassian” had neat writing, probably, Nathan guessed, from writing so much.  
“So, speaking of your situation are you comfortable telling me how you got to this point?” Cassian frowned and several emotions flashed across his stitched face. Nathan caught fear, hopelessness, anger, and sadness. Cassian's face settled on neutral, but hints of dark emotions would slip through the cracks of his metaphorical mask. He took the paper scratched a quick message.   
"Confidential." As Nathan read the note a wave of strange anger built up in him. He slammed his hands down on the table, Cassian flinched. Nathan looked into the depths of Cassian’s eyes but they were flat discs of fear, Nathan recoiled at the sight, something I said brought back something that painful in his mind? Nathan was trying to pick up the pieces of this shattered investigation. It must have been me pressing him to answer the question.   
"Look, I'm sorry I ye-" he didn't get to even finish the sentence when Cassian reared back in his chair. Nathan thought that he was trying to escape the interrogation room. When Cassian slammed his head hard into the wall it was clear to Nathan he was trying to escape his memories. Nathan grabbed Cassian’s shoulders before he could try to knock himself out again, he looked into Cassian’s terror-filled amber eyes. ”Cassian I'm going to need you to calm down!”   
“Cassian you need to snap out of this.” The Voice echoed inside his empty mind but the memories were too painful and he shook the voice away. His frantic eyes darted around the room looking for something else to use to knock himself unconscious. His eyes snapped onto Nathan's gun. He looked into Nathan sizes he said,   
“Cassian, I'm going to need you to calm down!” For a split-second, the memories stopped but just as his hope came back he was drowned in the flood of memories again. He saw Nathan, then his own hands reaching for the gun, succeeding, Nathan's eyes widening, and trying to take the gun away, the gun going off- not anywhere fatal- Cassian raising his hands with the gun, holding the barrel of the weapon, and smashing it in his forehead. The last thing you saw was Smile’s concerned face. Then dark. 

A girl drifted through the yard. The large rocks shadowed as she glided under the moonlight. She was drawn to the noise, always had been and always will be. She hadn't checked up on her brother in a while. But when she possessed the camera and saw Mandy she had to help her. She was the only nice staff member in that whole slug-eating facility. She didn't need to be subjected to the tortures of the “patients” had to. The girl scoffed, the doctor that started this mess thought she was dead. Ha, me dead, she thought well I guess I am kind of dead... But I'm back now. Z blinked and smirked. She followed the sounds to the edge of the vertical rocks. A pickup truck was parked near the edge, two men- Z thought they looked familiar- they pulled a large bag out of the bed. They dragged the bag to a spot and began digging. Curiosity gripped Z she floated over and quietly unzipped the bag horror flooded through her as she recognized the face of her friend. She wailed, and the two men stood up in fright.  
“Who's t-there?!” Z felt rage flood through her.  
“How dare you! Why have you done this shameful deed?! Why she was so nice?! Why?!” Static filled the men's division as the now visible ghost walked closer to them. Their vision cleared enough for them to see a girl standing in front of them, she was a sixteen-year-old girl with three bullet holes in her chest. Her graying clothes were no longer transparent. She walked up to the front one and slapped him across the face. “You are a monster! I think you two need to be punished!” The ghost cackled as she plunged her arm straight through the man's chest. His companion getting blood sprayed on him. He screamed and ran into the forest. Z cursed as she thought he got away. She tried to use your senses to detect him. She got a ping, odd he wasn't running. She used her ghost space stepping powers and landed behind him. Or where he should be. She looked up and saw him, hanging. Oh my, she thought oh, well that's unfortunate... For me. She sighed and turned to go.  
“Wait! Why aren't you afraid, or screaming?” She turned back around and saw a boy. He was drenched in blood, his long black hair swaying.   
“I'm not scared because I wanted to do that.” She pouted, “Plus, after death not much is scary.” He nodded.  
“Makes sense.” he seemed awkward for a second, rocking heel-to-toe. “So who are you getting revenge on?”  
“Dr. Scott Harper,” Z replied  
“Hmm... Yeah isn’t that the doctor who ran that madhouse?” he asked   
“Yup!” She chirped cheerily. “Also nobody calls it a ‘madhouse’. How old are you?” He winced  
“Well, I was a little older you when I died... But I have been in this forest for a while and I'm not sure what year it is... So I'm not sure.” He rubbed the back of his neck  
“Well the year’s 2019, if that helps.” He stepped back.  
“Well, I'm up over a hundred years old!”  
“Gee mister,” Z replied wryly, “that seems like a you problem, not a me problem.” He chuckled. Then he looked at her skeptically.  
“Do you want to meet others?” Z was confused.  
“What?” He cursed and looked back.  
“Others like us!”He said grinning


	8. Chapter Seven: Accidents

Nathan frowned. Odd things had been happening; first, an odd murder had occurred it was unexplainable, then they caught Cassian who is a whole bundle of problems by himself, next a genetically modified body had been found, and lastly he was stuck investigating the deaths of two men in a graveyard. He scanned the first body which was found next to a freshly dug grave. The “best” part was that it was next to the mutilated body. They had identified both the man and the woman. The woman was named Mandy and was a 20-year-old who worked as a nurse at the nearby government mental institute. The other man was a senior staff member at the same building. The test results showed that she had died from bleeding out as well as dehydration and starvation. Her mangled face shocked anyone who looked at it. It was...different. But you already know that. He was trying to bury the body, Nathan guessed. Records showed that the institute was in a confidential location. Nathan pondered all of the oddities happening. Maybe they were all connected. He wandered into the forest - not smart. As he walked, he came across the other man. His death was a bit more...graphic so I am not going to write that. Let’s just say his insides were his outsides and he was strung up on display. Nathan gagged, not at the sight but the smell, it was horrendous. He called for reinforcements as the chill of nausea settled over him. What happened here? Nathan left as soon as back up arrived. He got in his car.  
“I wasn’t sure if you would find our...present.” A different chill crossed Nathan.  
“You’re dead. Leave me alone. Just go away.” Nathan closed his eyes. When there was no response he opened them again. He sighed in relief when he didn’t see her there. He still had not recovered from the crash. I will recover. I will get stronger, he thought. I hope, whispered the smaller, broken part of him.


	9. Chapter Eight: Loss

Cassian woke up in the hospital. He was glad to not be in that room with the one light. He sat up and winced, he looked down and saw a cast on his left leg. Oh yeah, that happened. He needed to yawn, so he did. Then he froze, wait he yawned. Cassian brought his hand to his face and felt that the stitches holding his mouth shut were cut so they just looped through his lips. When they were still there he could open his mouth but just enough to eat, so yawning was a forgotten luxury. He still couldn’t talk but eating would be so much easier! He hopped off the bed and realized mid-air that this was a bad plan. He landed on his left leg and gasped. Aww, snickers and macaroni, he thought limping back to his bed. Okay, plan B, he thought.  
Three hours later Nathan gently pushed open the door to Cassian’s hospital room. Cassian looked up and saw Nathan in the doorway. When their eyes met Cassian’s expression went from kinda dreary to bright. Cute, Nathan thought, wait hold up. He mentally shook himself. No getting distracted, I need to ask if he knows anything about the government hospital.  
“Hey Cassian,” he said trying to be cheerful, “we have a new investigation and I would like to ask you a few questions. Is that okay with you?” When Cassian nodded he took out a couple of pictures and the notepad Cassian used the last time they “talked”. He handed them to Cassian along with a permanent marker. When Cassian looked over the three pictures his eyes caught on one in particular. A tear slid down his face.  
“The first two...are Randy and Troy...they worked there.” Cassian took in a shuddering breath before continuing. “And she’s Mandy...She was Z’s best friend and...I loved her…” The last part filled Nathan with an odd feeling. It was like anger, protectiveness, and greed all mixed into one. “What happened to them?” Cassian asked.  
“We found these three in a graveyard.” He regretted the next part almost instantly, “And the girl, Mandy, you called her? Yeah, well she was horrifically mutilated and broken. Very ugly if I do say so myself.” Something in Cassian’s face changed. It wasn’t his mouth because that was still set in a tight line. It wasn’t his nose as I am pretty sure you couldn’t change that. It was his eyes, yes. The cheery amber eyes that Nathan looked forward to seeing were lifeless. It looked as though no light reflected off of them. His pupils were dilated, they gave the impression of a predator getting ready to pounce. His fists clenched in anger and he looked ready to get revenge on whoever committed this crime. Nathan stepped back in alarm. Cassian scribbled and angry note,  
“Where?” Cassian’s normally neat handwriting had been traded for something that looked more...sinister-if you can describe handwriting as sinister-looking. Nathan shook his head.  
“No you-I can’t-I am NOT going to take you there.” Cassian gritted his teeth and grimaced.  
“I want to mourn for the loss of her, of Mandy.” He waited a moment before adding, “I have lost too many friends recently to not grieve.” Nathan was shocked. The light was back in Cassian’s eyes, but it was a sad, broken light. He looked down. Nathan’s heart broke and he reached out to tug Cassian into a hug. At first Cassian was tense, then he slowly melted and hugged Nathan back gripping the back of his shirt. Nathan’s head spun with all of the new information he had gained. So Cassian had known the people at the institute, maybe he had worked there too. But Nathan did not think so, the scars said something different. He was a patient there, but how did he get here? There must be a reason. Plus, who did he lose besides Mandy? Nathan felt something warm on his shoulder. Tears. Cassian was crying.  
“Hey. Hey. It’s going to be okay. You’re fine. Cassian, you are going to be okay. It’s okay, I've got you. Nothing is going to hurt you.” Nathan patted Cassian’s head as he cried into the cop’s shoulder.


	10. Chapter Nine: Green

Still. Silent. Fog. Gray. the fog lay thick muffling all sounds. She breathed. She blinked. She could make out rocks and yellow tape. Out of the dead silence a sound startled her. A car door. Footsteps. Gravel crunching under shoes. She sat up. Then she stood. Her pale blue dress torn and stained with blood. The navy mask covering most of her mouth. Her arms and legs were covered in cuts. She saw two figures walking to where she stood. She squinted. The leading one was a man with ash-blonde hair and green eyes. He had a friendly-looking face. She recognized the second figure immediately, Cassian. She was filled with joy seeing him again. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. Only to go straight through him like mist. She turned to watch him as he kept walking. The despair welled up inside her and she let out a choking sob. She once again tried to reach out for him but her hand passed through his shoulder. She gasped. A tear rolled down her cheek. She followed them through the yard, she followed until they stopped. Her body. She watched Cassian slowly kneel. He placed a hand on her mangled face. He grabbed her body and held it to himself, hugging it. He was crying so she leaned to hug him. Cassian felt something odd, but he dismissed it as the voice again. He sobbed harder and the officer leaned down to whisper something in Cassian’s ear. He shook harder but stood. He looked once more at her body. He swiftly turned and hugged the officer, which filled her with rage. She growled and the blonde looked up in her direction. The hug broke with Cassian asking what he was looking at. Before he could respond she was standing in front of the officer. She gripped his throat with her right hand. Cassian went up to him asking what was wrong. This only made her more infuriated, she tightened her hold on the young man’s neck. His hands began to attempt at freeing him but those got weaker and weaker until they dropped to his sides. Her vision cleared from the red haze and she realized what she was doing. She let go and he dropped. He landed, hunched, on the ground. He coughed and held his throat, gasping. Cassian rushed over, helping him to stand. The officer glared at her, although she was still shocked at what she had almost done. Cassian suggested they leave and the blonde agreed. The pair began to leave but she didn’t notice as she stared at her hand stunned. She only snapped out of her trance when she heard a car door slam and an engine start. She walked over to her body. She laid on the damp ground. As the shadows began to swarm her vision she thought of Cassian, the blonde, the doctor. She opened her eyes and stood. Ready to begin her mission.  
Nathan had no idea why she had attacked him. Cassian had no clue what was going on. And they both did not know what to do next. They had gone to see Mandy’s body so Cassian could grieve. Nathan knew that bottling up your feelings could be cataclysmic, they would only boil and fester until the containment broke and they exploded out revealing all of the feelings one wanted to remain hidden. So he took his boy friend to face his past. Dwelling on the past wasn’t Nathan’s favourite pastime, so I’ll stop here. Nathan paced with one hand on his bruised neck. He was thinking about Cassian, obviously. Cassian had agreed to take Nathan to the institute where he was kept with Mandy and one other. He always tried to tell him the name of the other person but he could never finish. Nathan never pressed the matter. Cassian had agreed on one condition, he could wear a mask. Cassian had mentioned something about “hiding his identity” but Nathan thought there was more going on. For starters, the mask only covered the top half of his face and those scars were pretty recognizable. Nathan couldn’t come up with reasons for wearing it so he gave up. Cassian exited the room, having completed his arts and crafts project. The mask was a dark gray-blue, and where the eyes were was black. In the center of the black was red pupils the right and X and the left an I. Nathan looked deep into the eyes of the mask. Nathan’s head spun, he felt like he was falling, or drowning, or both. He had no clue why until the memories began to flash through his mind. It reminded him of his best friend, Jenny. They were driving in Nathan’s car. The thunder growled and the sky darkened. Nathan was in the driver’s seat, Jenny next to him. They were talking in a tense atmosphere. Jenny had said something that made Nathan upset. He went to pull off the one-lane road. During the turn, a drunk driver hit the right side of the car. The impact expelled black smog injured vehicle. Suddenly a second impact hit the car. The whole front right side was crushed. The car had rolled several times and ended upside down. The drunk driver sped away as the police officer was mortified of what he had just done. The officer was chasing a drunk driver but didn’t see him hit Nathan‘s car. He saw the car, crushed and tipped over. Smoke billowed from the windows and from under the hood. The officer knew he could lose his job for this. He panicked, he got in his car and drove away. 30 minutes went by and Nathan dragged himself back into consciousness. He had no thoughts other than getting out. He army crawled out of the wreck. When he was out he sat up feeling like he forgot something important. He looked back in the car and remembered. Jenny, she was still in there! He crawled to the other side of the vehicle. He crawled until he reached her door. He grew steadily more distressed as he came closer, seeing the extent of the damage. There was a giant dent in the side of the car, the passenger side window was almost completely smashed, the roof was caved, and the whole side was destroyed. This made him fear greatly for the life of his female friend. He tried ripping the door open. But he was in no condition to be doing that so he, inevitably, failed. He couldn’t give up so he attacked the already damaged window with his fist, cutting it open. When it finally shattered he saw her, covered in crimson. He unbuckled her and pulled her out. She has slumped away from him so he rolled her over to face him. He gasped, her face was bloody and he couldn't make out how bad the damage was but it was serious. He was pretty sure he could see bone on the left side. One thing he knew for sure was her left eye would never be the same again. It wasn't even there. Just a gaping void full of glass and metal. He didn't know what to do. His best friend could be dead and the adrenaline was wearing off and he was acutely aware of a sharp pain in his lower back and the absence of feeling in his legs when he knew at least one was broken. Okay, he needed to calm down. What did he need right now? Medical attention. And how did he get to that? An ambulance. Right, now what did he need to contact the lifesaving truck? His phone. His phone, that’s right! Now that he had organized thoughts he put his plan into motion. He crawled back into the car, opened the glovebox, and pulled out his phone. He dialed 911 and gave the dispatcher the best description of his location he could. Now all he could do was wait. He was still on the phone with the dispatcher when the lightheadedness caught up with him. 20 minutes passed and sirens wailed. The ambulance came into view.


End file.
